From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Traditional Rulers and Chiefs from the nine states of the Niger Delta region have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari,over the alleged illegal arrest of Tantita’s Director of Technical Operations, Capt. Warredi Inisouh, by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The traditional rulers and chiefs, under the aegis of the Coalition of Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum, described the arrest of Capt Inisouh, as illegal and part of the plot to frustrate the on-going fight against crude oil theft in the region.
The petition signed by Dr Akpan O. Essien, Mr. Williams Erepatei, Mr. Adeleke S. Olubunmi, Mr. James Ipalibo, and Mrs. Ejiro P. Obohvie, called for the urgent release of Inisouh from the custody of the EFCC, and for an inter-agency probe to be instituted to unravel those sabotaging the war against oil theft from within EFCC.
CNDSF which insisted that Inisouh was being held on trumped charges, said he is seen as the “intelligence and technical arrowhead that has delivered devastating and paralysing incisions into the criminal and powerful networks of oil thieves in the Niger Delta, ripping the federal government of Nigeria of much needed revenue.”
The group which disclosed that Inisouh was invited by the EFCC while almost wrapping up investigation into a Vessel caught with stolen crude oil in Port Harcourt, River State, declared that oil theft must end in the Niger Delta region.
